Monthly Archives: February 2016

On our last trip to Abraham Lake we were very lucky with gorgeous sunset and fancy sunrise the next morning. What we failed to find is some good ice. So I had to come back and do more scouting. This time luck was on our side. Usually windy like hell lake was calm and we even had to take few extra layers off not to boil to death hiking through the lake. Here is what have came out of it.

Nikon D800E 17–35 f2.8, 17mm; 1/4 sec; f/13; ISO 100 composite image.

Nikon D800E 17–35 f2.8, 17mm; 1/6 sec; f/11; ISO 100

Some trapped gas bubbles in the cross section of an ice sheet

Some more fancy ice. Closer to the shore ice sheets were covered in intricate web of fissures yet ice was so clear one could see the bottom of the lake through it.

And this is Nick who have kept me company through the trip. Luckily for me Nick has a wealth of various knowledge from different fields of science and driving time went rather quickly.

Its a magical and somewhat unnerving experience to walk on clear ice seeing dark depth of the lake under our feet. Some indication of the ice strength were periodically encountered fissures showing that there is over a foot of solid ice. Without those fissures there is no clue as to how thick that ice really is.

Today I had a rare opportunity to photograph the unique arms pieces made by Calgary master artisan – Emin Mammadov. Emin uses traditional techniques of old masters categorically refusing any new time saving technology. As a result he gets authentic replicas of swords and daggers that have the look and feel of the arms produced by ancient bladesmiths of the east.

Continuing an ice theme. There is one interesting lake in Alberta called Abraham Lake. It is situated in a wind channel Northeast from Sakatchewan River Crossing on Icefields Parkway. Lake is famous for its clear ice with beautiful frozen methane pancake bubbles. Wind keeps the surface of the lake clean of snow comparing to some other lakes in the park that are fully covered through the winter. This trip was both good and bad. It was bad as a warm spell of recent days has fogged up most of the ice on the lake and we didn’t find what we came here for. It was good though as we have found two awesome fellow photographers Bruce & Mike who gave us tips about shooting on the lake and some pointers as to vantage points to be at different times of the day.

And this is what has came out of it.

Sunset at the Abraham Lake

Nikon D800E 24–70 f2.8, 24mm; 1/6 sec; f/11; ISO 400 Pano 4 shots.

Nikon D800E 24–70 f2.8, 24mm; 1/6 sec; f/11; ISO 400

The sunrise next morning at Preacher’s Point

Nikon D800E 24–70 f2.8, 24mm; 1/2 sec; f/7.1; ISO 100

Nikon D800E 24–70 f2.8, 24mm; 1/2 sec; f/11; ISO 200

Nikon D800E 24–70 f2.8, 24mm; 1/2 sec; f/7.1; ISO 100

Bit of an overview. Bubbles are there, but one have to look for them harder than usually.

Nikon D800E 24-70 f2.8, 24mm; 1/100 sec; f/11; ISO 320. Pano 6 shots

Here is Nick again challenging the laws of physics.

And learning from the best!

Tip of the day – have your ice cleats when visiting the lake and prepare to be blown away. Literally!

Its been a while since I was going out to look for new places to photograph. This time it turned out to be mostly about ice. Many times I felt regret that I didn’t bring any soda with me as I was near unique opportunity to have 10,000 year rocks in my drink.

Anyway. Here is the cave inside Athabasca glacier! Enjoy.

Nikon D800E 17 – 35 f2.8, 24mm; 2 sec; f/11; ISO 100

And this is Nick who was kind enough to give me a kick, that got me out of multi-month photographic coma and put me on a trail again. Thank you Nick!